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F. Mathewes-Green: “It would be different if the culture and its institutions were falling apart physically and economically.”

Except that in many places, things are falling apart physically. Economically, it may be less obvious to those who are in the upper middle and upper classes. But they may be in for a rude awakening.

But for most lay people forming alternate communities are impossible, and the only support/community they can try to build up is the local parish. It looks like white martyrdom will be the call of lay people who want to remain faithful, not just of the few.

For what it’s worth, which is not all that much because it’s a subjective impression, I had a much stronger sense of things coming apart in the ’70s and ’80s. I remember some commentator in the ’80s saying that “New York is now a third-world city which will never recover.” But it did (not that it has no problems or anything, but by all accounts it has come way up since the days that inspired movies like “Escape from New York”).

In another post Frederica M-G says she thinks the culture is “capable of spending many more decades in the Barcalounger.” I tend to agree with that. BUT–it wouldn’t take all that big a calamity to change that. If you go look over at the CC blog now you’ll see some very pessimistic speculations by Rod Dreher.

I think it’s pretty clear that our society’s time in the Barcalounger (great image) is limited to a handful of years. Things are just too tenuous to last, and there are innumerable reasons for pessimism.

I.e., any one of us would be a fool to believe that the ride we’ve had in the US for the past 100 years will continue indefinitelyl.

Wouldn’t the Katrina-affected areas be a good place to look for some developments like this? Except what I hear in the news lately is that significant parishes are being closed, not made rallying points for re-civilization. Maybe someone needs to get some of the “good news” out there instead.